Review of Psychosis

Psychosis is a truly bizarre game. The characters in this game play the roles of pilots sent on a colonization ship from earth. Since the journey to colonize another world will be long, the colonists are placed in statis chambers for the trip. When the time comes to wake the characters, a malfunction occurs which releases the characters from statis but which also damages their minds. As a result, the characters go through a series of psychoses and must find out what is going on.

Psychosis drops dice and uses Tarot cards to control the random elements of the game. All characters are dealt a hand of cards and this is the only thing they keep track of in the course of a game. The gamemaster, or guide, is in charge of guiding characters through psychosis after psychosis on their quest to find out who they are. At the beginning of the game, the players don't even know their names let alone anything else about themselves.

Figuring out how to use the card system to resolve combat and other actions is somewhat difficult. The guide is given more responsibility in this game than in any other I know. As I mentioned before, the characters simply have cards to use for various actions and there are no character sheets in this game. Once the guide deciphers the card system he or she must decipher the psychoses flow chart which also takes some effort. In short, a guide must really be on his game, so to speak.

The reason I gave this game a high substance rating is because the number of psychoses is quite large. Also, the psychoses include several different types of roleplaying I have never seen before. Characters can have psychoses in this game where they envision themselves as dinosaurs, ants, wild west gunslingers, elementary school kids, caped crusaders and the list goes on and on. The number of different roleplaying opportunities makes this game worth taking a look at.

The bottom line on this game is give it a try. If you want a game that's different from the standard fare, this just may be the ticket. My only word of caution is don't think you are going to pick this game up and play it right away. Give the guide time to learn the rules.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)